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More Taxis May Soon Be Cruising Portland Streets

Dozens more taxis would roam Portland streets under a recommendation approved by a city committee. Taxi drivers have resisted the added competition, but conditions could be better for cabbies.

Portland’s Private For-Hire Transportation committee gave a green light to expanding the number of taxi licenses – including 50 for a new company called Union Cab. But Kathleen Butler with the city’s Revenue Bureau says the committee has also addressed problems in the cab industry.

A report this year found drivers were working up to 14 hours a day, six or seven days a week, and making just $6.22 an hour.

Butler says the new recommendations would improve things for passengers and drivers alike.

“By limiting the additional payments that companies can require of drivers and making some of the expectations in terms of the services that companies provide to drivers explicit in the code.”

Most of the new licenses would roll out over the next three years. Moving to license the new company requires City Council action.